


New Beginnings

by PandaPantsLuvsU



Series: Survivor's Guilt [1]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Childhood, Gen, could be considered lams, the washingtons adopted alex and laf
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-24
Updated: 2017-10-24
Packaged: 2019-01-22 04:14:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12473256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PandaPantsLuvsU/pseuds/PandaPantsLuvsU
Summary: Alex and Gilbert have just been adopted by the Washingtons.  They make some new friends.(Technically part of my omegaverse AU but I didn't make that prevalent in the story.)





	New Beginnings

Gilbert climbed out of the car and bounced excitedly, looking around.  “Ju _th_ t like the picture _th_!” he exclaimed.  “Alex, look!”

Alex walked up to him, taking his hand.  Gilbert beamed.

“Welcome home,” Mr. Washington said to them, placing a hand on each of their shoulders.  “Let’s go in, get you settled.”

Mrs. Washington was waiting for them just inside.  “I’ve got a fresh batch of cookies cooling on the counter.”

Daniel and Frannie bounded into the room.  “Hi!” Frannie said.  “Hi!  Welcome home!”  She rushed towards them, but Mr. Washington stopped her.

“Remember what I said?”

She froze.  “Always ask first.”

“Right.”

She bit her lip.  “Can I hug you?”

Gilbert stepped forward and they hugged.  Alex remained rooted to the floor.

* * *

 

Alex, Gilbert, Daniel, and Frannie were all instructed to play outside after dinner.  Alex watched from the porch as the others ran around the yard, playing superheroes.  Frannie was Wonderwoman, from what he could tell.  Daniel was Batman, and Gilbert was Robin.  They even had blankets that they were using as capes.  There was one for Alex, too, if he wanted.  Daniel said he could be Aquaman.  But Alex didn’t like the ocean, so he sat on the porch swing and observed.

He didn’t like superheroes, anyway.  They weren’t real.  If they had been, one would’ve saved his mom.

Alex blinked hard and looked down at his lap.  He didn’t know much about her - he was only three when she died.  But if he closed his eyes and thought really hard, he could almost remember her face, or how she smelled, or the sound of her voice as she taught him English.  If he thought too hard, though, he’d remember how sick she was.

It had been because of a bug.  Nevis seemed to have been full of them.  One bit Mommy, and she got sick.  It had started out small, just a little fever.  But then the big storm came from the ocean - she’d called it a hurricane - and it made things worse.  He could still hear the roar of the water as it crashed against the house, the howling of the wind, the rain that wouldn’t _stop_.  Mommy was trapped somewhere else until the next morning, when most of it was over.  She’d held Alex so tightly that day, crying and thanking God that he was safe.  But the island hadn’t survived.  A lot of people had died, too.  They flew to America a week later, but Mommy was getting sicker and Alex remembered that he’d started to get sick, too.

He could still smell the musty hotel room, the sweat, the tears, the sickness.  Mommy had been holding him tightly, rubbing his tummy because it hurt, and singing softly in French.

“ _...Au clair de la lune, Pierrot répondit, Je n'ai pas de plume, je suis dans mon lit.  Va chez la voisine, je crois qu'elle y est, car dans sa cuisine, on bat le -_ ”

And then she wasn’t singing anymore.  Her hand had gone still and he could no longer feel her breath in his hair.

Alex closed his eyes tightly, trying to forget.  He didn’t want to think about Mommy.  Because she was dead.

He sniffled.  He missed her so much.  He’d give anything to be in her arms again, to feel her brushing his hair back and kissing his forehead, to hear her singing to him.  But thinking about her made him hurt.

“Hi!” Frannie suddenly yelled.  Alex looked up to see two kids crossing the street.  The bigger one was holding the smaller one’s hand, even when they tried to pull away.  It reminded Alex of whenever he’d held Gilbert’s hand at the foster homes.  “Do you want to play?  We’re superheroes!  Marty, you can be Supergirl.”

The little one squealed in delight and finally wrenched away from her older sibling, but it was okay because they’d reached the yard.  “Hi, Frannie!” she said.  She looked at Gilbert.  “Who’re you?”

“I’m Lafayette.”

“‘Fayette.”

“ _Non_ , _La_ fayette.  With a _la_.”

“Lafayette.”

“Yeah!  Me and Alex ju _th_ t moved here.”

“They’re our new brothers,” Frannie said proudly, then walked over to the bigger one and hugged them.  “You can play, too.  You can be Superman, like last time.”

They glanced at the porch and noticed Alex.  Then they looked back at Frannie.  “Maybe later.  Thanks.”

Alex looked down at his new shoes that Mr. Washington had bought him.  He heard footsteps and his head shot up as the bigger one came onto the porch.  It was a _he_ , Alex decided.  He had longish curly hair and a lot of freckles.

“Are you in trouble?” they asked.

“Huh?”

“Sometimes when I get in trouble, Mama makes me sit on the porch swing instead of playing.”

Alex shook his head.  “I’m not in trouble.”

The kid sat down next to him.  “I’m John.”

“I’m Alex.”

“So why aren’t you playing?”

Alex shrugged.  “I don’t want to.”

“Well, why not?”

“I just don’t.”  He looked down at the ground.  “I don’t know why.”

“Oh.”  John got quiet.  “Sometimes I don’t want to play, either.”

“Like now?”

“No, not like now.”

Alex cocked his head, confused.  “Then why aren’t _you_ playing?”

“Because you looked sad and I wanted to cheer you up.”

Alex stared at him.  “Why?”

It was John’s turn to look confused.  “Because people shouldn’t be sad.”

He’d never thought of it like that.

John continued, kicking his legs back and forth, making the swing move.  “It’s harder for people to be sad when they’re with a friend.  When I’m sad, I talk to Frannie.  She’s my _best_ friend.  But you can be my friend, too.”

Up until today, Gilbert had been Alex’s only friend.  “Okay.”

Speaking of, Gilbert bounded over to them.  “Hi.”  His eyes were bright, his smile large.  “I’m Alex’ _th_ little brother.”

John grinned and shook his hand, then looked at Alex.  “I’m a big brother, too.  I’ve got Marty and Junior and Mama’s having another baby soon.”

That was a lot of people to look after.  “I’ve got Gilbert.”

“Lafayette,” Gilbert corrected, giving Alex a look.  They’d talked about it.  Gilbert wanted to go by his last name now.  Alex figured he’d gotten the idea from a book they’d read together a week ago.  “Ju _th_ t Lafayette.  No more Gilbert.”

Maybe it was because he didn’t like it when their old foster parents had called him _Gilly_.  Alex took his hand.  “Okay.  No more Gilbert.”

“Do you wanna play with u _th_ , Alex?  You can be Aquaman!”

Alex shook his head.  “I don’t wanna be Aquaman.”

“Why?” John said.  “Aquaman is so cool!  He can breathe underwater and talk to fish!”

Alex’s face fell.  “I don’t like water.”

A moment passed.

“That’s okay.”  John was smiling again.  “You can be Superman.  He can fly and is super strong and can shoot lasers out of his eyes!”

“But _you’re_ always Superman!” Frannie whined.  She’d apparently overheard.

“Yeah, but I wanna be the Flash now.  He’s super fast and can outrun everything!”

“Is Superman fast?” Alex asked.

John nodded.  “He’s _super_ fast.”

“Who' _th_ fa _th_ ter?” Gilbert asked.

They decided to have a race to find out.

In one of his earlier foster homes, there’d been another boy his age and they played games all of the time.  But when Alex won, he’d always push him down or pull his hair or yell at him for cheating.  When Alex crossed the finish line first, he worried that John would be mad at him too, but John just grinned again.  Alex thought about how great his life must be, for him to keep smiling like that.

They all played together until the streetlights came on and it was time to go inside.  But John promised that he’d come over to play tomorrow.

“Did you have fun?” Mrs. Washington asked as them as they came into the living room, chests still heaving from all of the running.

Alex smiled at her for probably the first time.  “Yeah, I did.”

**Author's Note:**

> What'd you think? Let me know!  
> And also come scream with me on tumblr! [@PandaPantsLovesYou](https://pandapantslovesyou.tumblr.com)


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